The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Nuts instead of carbs may aid diabetes control Posted: 12 Jul 2011 10:08 PM PDT  Raw almonds are crushed inside a factory in New Delhi January 15, 2011. — Reuters pic When people with type 2 diabetes replaced some of their usual carbohydrates with about a half-cup of mixed nuts each day, their blood sugar and "bad" cholesterol levels dipped slightly over three months, researchers wrote in the journal Diabetes Care. By contrast, no such improvements were seen among people who swapped their normal carbs for a daily whole-wheat muffin. While the findings don't mean that nuts are the key to diabetes control, they can be part of a healthy diet, said Cyril Kendall of the University of Toronto in Canada, one of the researchers involved. "We should be focusing on overall diet and lifestyle," Kendall told Reuters Health. "They (nuts) have a lot of fat, but we now realize that those fats are healthy ones," he said, referring to the unsaturated fats that have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease and other health benefits. Still, nuts are high in calories, and people with diabetes should not simply add a handful to their usual diet but should use them in place of less healthy snacks, Kendall said. For the study, 117 adults with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group was given unsalted mixed nuts and told to eat them instead of some of their usual carbohydrates, a second group replaced their normal carbohydrates with "healthy" whole-wheat muffins with no added sugar, and the third group went on a half-nut, half-muffin regimen. The "full-nut" group ate, on average, about 2 ounces, or a half cup, of nuts per day, totalling roughly 475 calories. After three months, the researchers found, the full-nut group showed a 0.2 per cent dip in their average haemoglobin AIC level — a measure of long-term blood sugar control. The change was small and "just shy," Kendall said, of what is considered a clinically significant improvement in blood sugar control. But the people in the study were already on diabetes medication and typically had good blood sugar control. "So we're seeing a benefit over and above what they were achieving with medication," he added. As for cholesterol, the nut group's average LDL cholesterol — the "bad" kind — declined from about 97 milligrams per decilitre to 89 mg/dL. An LDL count below 100 mg/dL is generally considered optimal. No similar improvements were seen in the other two groups. It was not clear why the full-nut group showed better blood sugar and cholesterol levels, but Kendall said he suspects it is largely because of the monounsaturated fats in nuts. For people who aren't crazy about nuts, there are other sources of monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil and avocados. While the study did not look at those foods, Kendall said it might be a wise move to replace some carbohydrates with those fats. The study was partially funded by the International Tree Nut Council Nutrition Research & Education Foundation and the Peanut Institute, both industry groups. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
| Lost statue of Roman emperor Caligula unveiled Posted: 12 Jul 2011 05:02 PM PDT  A bust of Gaius Caesar Caligula. — Picture by Louis le Grand The statue, which had been broken in several large pieces and a head, was first found last January when Finance Police stopped it from being smuggled out of the country by boat at a port near Rome. The operation led to the arrest of two so-called "tomb raiders" — those who dig up the countryside looking for archaeological treasures to sell on the black market. But more importantly, the arrests led police to the site near Lake Nemi, just south of Rome, where Caligula was believed to have had one of his imperial residences. The statue, now cleaned of the earth that had covered it for 2,000 years, shows parts of a robed man sitting on an elaborate throne like the Greek god Zeus. Significantly, it shows a man wearing a "caliga," shoes worn by Roman legionaries and from where the emperor got the name by which he is known. His real name was Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Caligula, who reigned from 37 to 41 AD, has gone down in history as a crazed and power-hungry sex maniac who demanded that his horse, Incitatus, be made a consul. — Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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